I did the same thing this morning. It's even better the second time through. The ride itself is a great story, but the connection between Rick's R&T article (a noteworthy accomplishment by itself) and Red Barchetta is simply amazing...and all the time it's taken for the complete connection to occur, well that speaks for itself.

I rode my GS down to see Rush in VA Beach that weekend. I saw Michael riding around in the fan parking lot, chatting with folks. So I went and chatted with him. I think he had just gotten that GS a few weeks earlier at Hollywood BMW. Saw them here at Nissan the next night and did the round trip to Pittsburgh to see them Monday (took the Mini for that one, since rain was in the forecast). Last weekend I rode up to NJ to see them twice more. Wasn't as exciting as your trip (until my low beam went out 5 miles into the 250 mile ride home on the Garden State Pkwy), but a good ride and great concerts.

Many thanks to all of you for your enthusiastic response to my ride report. I figured there would be a lot of Rush fans among the BMWBMW members, and I wasn't mistaken. It really means a lot to me that you enjoyed the write-up so much.

As you may have noticed, the number of "hits" on the story has exploded in the last couple of days. First, a Rush blog called "Test For Echo" mentioned it and included a link (see http://www.rushisaband.com/display.php?id=1121). It was interesting to read the many comments on the blog, including one that stated our GS's cost $60,000 each!

Then, on Friday, Neil Peart added a news item to his personal web site that showed some of the pictures I took of him and Michael riding and included a link to the BMWBMW story (see http://www.neilpeart.net/news/index.html).

As a consequence, this post is getting more than 2,000 hits a day! (I hope the server can take it...)

A few follow-up's from the report:

-- Michael says his GS is gray, not blue as I stated. (With all the Tamiami mud on it, I couldn't readily tell!)

-- Neil says the "hens" I mentioned in the picture with the llama's are actually guinea fowls, which run wild in Africa and taste very good.

-- Neil suggested, as did Kitty, that I submit the article to BMW ON, and several of you suggested the BTS. I'm still thinking about it, but I'm leaning toward the ON. Stay tuned...

On other topics, Rick Lee, you should get some kind of award for having attended three consecutive Rush performances! (How's your hearing?)

Finally, regarding the fact that Michael's GS had only one side case: When I asked him about that during the ride, he said he hates side cases because they make the bike look bad, so he minimizes the problem by only using one. (In Roadshow, Neil wrote about how he'd lost a factory side case off his GS while on the road, ultimately losing a valuable watch, his final edits for the paperback version of Roadshow, and a ring given to him by his wife. Thus his reference to the "damnable BMW side cases"!)

Thanks again, everyone. It was an outstanding trip. As Blaster correctly said, "The times of our lives are made from moments like this."

Rick F.

PS--In the following picture, Neil was either (i) fastening his helmet, or (ii) demonstrating the call of a West Virginia ruby-throated pine warbler.

Rick, I usually catch 7-10 Rush shows each tour. I've caught five in the last three weeks and will probably make a few more in NYC and OH. My hearing is terrible, but most of that came from playing in a Rush cover band in college;).

And reading about Neil's case coming off in Roadshow made me look into extra fastening on my R1150R and then as soon as I got my GS. I can't recall if Neil lost a BMW OEM case or a Jesse bag. But there is a TSB out there for making sure those mushroom bolts are something like 27mm high to snug the cases down. I have a habit of always looking in my mirrors to see if the bags are still there. And I wear my expensive watch all the time and try not to carry anything in a side case I can't afford to lose.

Rick Lee wrote:Rick, I usually catch 7-10 Rush shows each tour. I've caught five in the last three weeks and will probably make a few more in NYC and OH. My hearing is terrible, but most of that came from playing in a Rush cover band in college;).

And reading about Neil's case coming off in Roadshow made me look into extra fastening on my R1150R and then as soon as I got my GS. I can't recall if Neil lost a BMW OEM case or a Jesse bag. But there is a TSB out there for making sure those mushroom bolts are something like 27mm high to snug the cases down. I have a habit of always looking in my mirrors to see if the bags are still there. And I wear my expensive watch all the time and try not to carry anything in a side case I can't afford to lose.

Rick,

It was a factory "vario" case that Neil lost. After that experience, he switched to Jesse bags. After reading about his experience, I've been carefully monitoring my side case bolts, too! My cases don't hold much of value, but they're $400 each--reason enough to be cautious for cheapskate actuaries like myself.

Rick F.

PS--I'm very impressed about your Rush cover band! The Surftones know about 6 songs in total, but only 2 at any given moment...